How many people will actually show up

If you invite 180, you should plan for having 180.

You should never invite more than you can host. There will probably be some declines, but how many is anyone's guess.

However many you invite is how many you should anticipate you pay for. You shouldn't invite people just to do it.

We haven't sent any out yet. And it's not that they can't be paid for its the fact that I don't want my mom to pay for that many people because that is her gift to us but neither mom will listen and only send out what we planned for which is 50 each. A 100 max not nearly 200.

You should be sending the invitations out, not them. Whoever pays for the wedding definitely gets a say in who is invited (that's their earned courtesy) but neither parent should be sending out their own set of invites. You control the list.

Every person that gets an invite, expect them to come.

@amw, she said her mom is paying for a large portion (at least ) of the wedding ...that means she gets a say.

I hate when people jump on posts like this when the OP is not saying they are inviting more than they can host or the room can hold. But come on ladies, don't tell me that you didn't secretly want a certain number of declines so that you got to your perfect number!

So to answer your question.. Yes, you should certainly never invite more than you can afford to host and you should certainly not over invite for the room capacity. But usually people get a decline rate of somewhere between 15-25%. There's been ladies with only 10% and there's been ladies with 40% decline. There's no way to predict.

To compare: I'm inviting 175, in the hopes that we get 150 to come!

Lol Jersey Jen I won't lie when FH and I finalized our guest list my first thought was "is it bad I'm hoping some of these people will decline?" But also I've read that typically around 80% of invitees will show up. We budgeted to accommodate everyone if they do come but I wouldn't mind saving a grand or two if people decline.. I'll be honest.

I am basing my headcount on RSVP's. If they RSVP they get a seat, if not they better bring a chair and a sandwich.

By 75 invites and 100 invites do you mean actual headcounts or does that then add on plus ones?

If that doesn't include plus ones you're looking at inviting close to 350 people!!

Expect them all to show. We have gotten back 50 rsvp's and only 4 are no. I am excited, but cringe at the same time.

Invite how many you can afford and assume they are all coming. Period.

As others have said there is no way to predict this. We invited 150 people and have about a 1/3 decline rate. I was hoping for 100-120 people and right now we are just under 100 with RSVPs due tomorrow. We knew not all 150 would come because some are elderly family members that can't travel, but we were prepared to and able to pay for everyone had we gotten 100% attendance.

As far as invites go, make sure you send one per household not per person. Since your mom is paying she does have say in the list, but you and your FH should have control of the list. Since his mom isn't paying, and your mom is, what are her thoughts on FHs mom inviting 75 people? Is she prepared to pay for all of them if they were to come? If you only want 100 people, then you need to sit down with your moms and discuss this. Tell them you want a smaller wedding and you'd appreciate it if they could try to cut a few people. Your mom could say she's only paying if she can invite who she wants though...

With only a total of 72 people (including BP), I'm hoping for 100%. Even just a 10% no show is a huge chunk.

We are paying for 200 people, whether they show or not, so we did invite a few more than that. We're fully prepared to pay for 200+ (if by some miracle they all RSVP yes.) I'm hoping we'll end up with just 200.

I'm with @jersey Jen. I'm inviting 150. I can afford 150, I'm budgeting everything to 150, my venue can hold 200.

But dear god I pray 125-130 actually attend. I absolutely do not want a large wedding, but have too many family that need to be included and I don't want to cut back on our friends to accommodate them.

First, I would talk with your FH about who the two of you want there. My FH and I decided we wanted to invite aunts/uncles, first cousins, grandparents. Then we added a few friends (me more than him because he has 3x as many family members on the list). We offered to let each set of parents invite 4 couples. Since your mom is paying for most of this, she should get more say. But you and your FH should get a major say in the guest list.

If it's a destination wedding , 60% won't show up (roughly). I don't know what it is for a local wedding. If you invite a number, expect all to show up. Not like this other bride on here who wanted us to justify cutting people she already sent save the dates too. Smh

You should always anticipate everyone you are inviting to come. Of course that's rarely ever the case. We invited 131 and are hoping around 100-110 show up. We are fully prepared financially for all of them to come. You should talk to them about what you and FH want. If you don't want that many then say so